Monday, August 10, 2009

Last August I started doing comic reviews on my own site with the help of my dad. Now it’s been a year so we’re celebrating the site’s one year anniversary. I got to review over one hundred comics in the past year, visit the offices of DC Comics, and go to the New York Comic Con and Wizard World Philly and sit down with creators at their tables and do some work. I got to meet a lot of cool creators and do some interviews with them and a lot of them have sent emails and copies of their projects all signed and stuff. It’s really cool that a lot of people read and like the reviews. My brother, Ethan, started doing reviews too a few months ago and likes it a lot.

I thought it would be cool to talk to people who work in comics about what kinds of books they liked when they were kids and what comics they like now. A lot of different creators responded and gave so many great answers. I hope you like them.

1. Did you read comic books when you were a kid and if so what were some of your favorite comic books/characters

Fabian Nicenza (writer of Cable/Deadpool for Marvel, Batgirl for DC): I started reading comics as early as I could remember in Argentina, because my older brother was reading a magazine called Antiojito y Antifas. Then when we first came to the United States in 1966, I read Superman, Batman, Archie Comics, Hot Stuff and Richie Rich. Then I discovered Marvel Comics and Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four and the Avengers.

Daniel Way (writer of Deadpool and Dark Wolverine): I grew up being very poor so, even though comics at that time only cost 60-75 cents each, they were still a luxury. I did read a few, though. I remember a Spider-Man comic where he's fighting a guy named Sin Eater, where Daredevil interferes. I also read a Spider-Man comic featuring Puma. And I had an Iron Man comic that really confused me because it wasn't the "real" Iron Man--it was the other guy--the black guy?--with different armor.

Bill Rosemann (Marvel Comics editor): I began reading comics BEFORE I could read! My parents were nice enough to put comics into my hands at a very early age, right when I was figuring out what letters and words were, so by the 1st grade I was enjoying the adventures of my favorite heroes, which included Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four and the Avengers

Jeph Loeb (writer of Hulk, Ultiamtes): I read them all the time. I was mostly a MARVEL guy -- the Avengers and the Fantastic Four were my favorites. At DC I read Superman, Batman and oddly enough, DEADMAN!

Joe Quesada (Editor in Chief of Marvel Comics): Yes, I did. My dad, who didn’t read comics, introduce me to the world of Marvel and Spider-Man by buying me my very first Spider-Man comic. From that point I was hooked and read comics until I was about 12 years old. Up until that point, I loved everything Marvel and Spider-Man in particular. There were also cool offbeat characters like Deathlok and Conan, who I thought were the coolest things I had ever read up until that point.

Christos Gage (writer of Avengers Initiative from Marvel, Wildcats from Wildstorm): I did! I loved Godzilla, the Shogun Warriors, the X-Men, Amazing Spider-Man, and Captain America

David Liss (Author of The Devil’s Company and writer of the upcoming Daring Mystery Comics 70th Anniversary Special).: I actually came to comics a little bit on the late side -- when I was a teenager. My favorites were Batman, Justice League, Punisher, Daredevil, Grimjack, and Nexus.

Mike Raicht (Co-writer, Stuff of Legend from Th3rd World Studios): My parents picked me up the old Marvel Star Wars comics when I was about 5. But I started really getting into them at about 7 or 8 years old and I was a huge Uncanny X-Men fan. I loved Colossus and Kitty Pryde. Pretty much everything X-Men was cool. Although back then you only had to follow the one book which made it a lot easier. I liked Alpha Flight as well.Especially Guardian and Sasquatch

Kazu Kibuishi (Creator of Amulet and Daisy Kutter, editor of the Flight anthology series)Yep! Garfield was actually my favorite comic when I was a kid. I was also a big fan of MAD Magazine, though mostly because of the art of Mort Drucker.

Tricia Narwani (Editor, Del Rey Comics and Villard): My childhood would have been so much better if I’d discovered comics sooner. Parents, do not deprive your kids of comics! Otherwise their lives will lack all meaning, as mine did, until I stumbled upon Neil Gaiman’s Sandman in a comic book shop in high school. Once you’ve gotten into comics, though, it’s like when Peter Parker was bitten by the radioactive spider: You’re changed forever.

Todd Dezago (co-creator of Tellos, Perhapanauts from Image, writer of Marvel Adventures Spider-Man): I read comics as a kid--and still do! I loved the Justice League and remember wanting to learn as much as i could about all of those characters! Though I was immediately a big Batman fan, in the JLA I liked many of the secondary characters; Red Tornado, Elongated Man, The Atom...I also loved Spider-Man--especially when he teamed up with other characters from the Marvel Universe--and then I would want top learn all I could about THOSE characters too!

Joe Schreiber (Author No Doors, No Windows and Star Wars: Death Troopers): I always loved X-MEN and SPIDERMAN, and later on DAREDEVIL...plus EC horror comic reprints (of course) -- like TALES FROM THE CRYPT and VAULT OF HORROR. I found 'em at a flea market in my old hometown and bought all I could find.

Tom Brevoort (Executive Editor for Marvel Comics): Yes, I started reading comics when I was six years old. My first comic was SUPERMAN #268, and early on I mostly read DC titles. My favorite super hero at the time was the Flash. Eventually, I moved into reading Marvel titles as well, beginning with the Fantastic Four.

Tommy Lee Edwards (artist of 1985, Wolverine): My comics reading started in the mid-to-late 1970's, with stuff like Thor and Captain America and Silver Surfer. I was about three when the interest began. When I was seven or so, Marvel debut the G.I. Joe comic in conjunction with the newly popular toys. I ate that stuff up every month. As I got older and in to junior high school, my interests shifted toward the "art" side of comics. I was drawn to books featuring creators I admired, such as John Romita JR, Walter Simonson, and Howard Chaykin.

Erich Schoeneweiss (Production Manager/Editor Del Rey and Del Rey Comics) G.I. JOE. In fact G.I. JOE #31 is the first comic I remember. I bought it off a spinner rack and must have read it a million times. I then subscribed to the comic but it took too long to deliver in the mail so I eventually convinced my parents to start taking me to the comic book shop. It was the stereotypical shop, everything was a mess and in long boxes, the owner stank and was weird. But I was able to get my new issue of G.I. JOE each month and that grew to X-Men, Spider-Man, Daredevil, Batman, and so on. I eventually had a $100 a week habit in my mid/late twenties and new I had to seek help.

Nicenza: I enjoy several mature reader comics put out by Vertigo (DC) such as Scalped and Fables. For superheroes, I really enjoy Green Lantern right now, the Superman titles and Secret Six by Gail Simone and Nicola Scott, too.

Way: Two of the books I really like right now are Captain America and Sweet Tooth.

Rosemann: Aside from every of Marvel comic, my two favorite comics are Dark Horse’s B.P.R.D. and Vertigo’s Scalped. Oh, and did I mention I love all the books I edit, like Nova, Guardians of the Galaxy, Thunderbolts, War Machine, Dark Reign: Hawkeye, Dark Reign: Hood, Marvel Zombies 3 & 4, Timestorm, House of M: Masters of Evil and Avengers: The Initiative? I do!

Loeb: I read a bunch of stuff. Really like what Geoff Johns is doing on GREEN LANTERN. Sterling Gates on SUPERGIRL. Bendis on the AVENGERS. Mark Millar on ULTIMATE AVENGERS and WOLVERINE (OLD MAN LOGAN). All great stuff.

Quesada: I’m enjoying a lot of stuff out there, but I guess right now I really love reading the thrice monthly Amazing spider-Man books, Thunderbolts and Wolverine: Old Man Logan.

Gage: I read so many, it's hard to pick just a couple. I really enjoy INCREDIBLE HERCULES and all the FABLES books.

Slott: THE INCREDIBLE HERCULES and ATOMIC ROBO

Liss: My two favorites right now are probably both by Robert Kirkman -- Invincible and Walking Dead.

Larsen: Scott Pilgrim, Invincible and the Walking Dead.

Raicht: I am having a great time following anything Green Lantern. Geoff Johns, Ivan Reis, Doug Mankhe and the rest are doing some phenomenal work. I also pick up Batman and Robin because I love Frank Quitely's stuff.

Kibuishi: I really like RASL by Jeff Smith. Aside from that, I enjoy reading the Moomin books by Tove Jansson, and the Osamu Tezuka books that are being reprinted right now.

Narwani: “The Unwritten” by Mike Carey and Peter Gross is my favorite new series. It’s about a guy whose dad based a Harry Potter-like character on him when he was a kid...and it brings all kinds of amazing magical events into his life. And Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s “Batman and Robin” has me all excited about Batman again.

Dezago: I really enjoy reading the fun Marvel Adventures books--Marvel Adventures Spider-Man and Marvel Adventures Avengers--as well as the Brave and the Bold comic!

Schreiber: I don't read as many comics as I'd like to. Right now I like Geoff Johns' GREEN LANTERN -- I also like Brian Bendis' work on THE AVENGERS. And IRON FIST, with Duane Swierczynski writing it. That's one hot book.

Brevoort: It's not at all appropriate for you yet, Liam, but I really, really liked Darwyn Cooke's adaptation of PARKER: THE HUNTER that just came out. Also, AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #600 was really good and really thick!

Edwards: I don't read any monthly comics right now, but still follow anything by my childhood favorites. I also read anything done by newer talent that I admire, or a friends' work. Recently, I read and enjoyed The Winter Men, Wolverine: Enemy of the State, and the latest David Mazzuchelli book (whatever it's called).

Schoeneweiss: So many comics aren’t written to be read as a comic but as the collected trade. So its frustrating that its hard to find just a good comic these days. Anything by Geoff Johns is a safe bet to be a great comic with a great cliff hanger ending. The Green Lantern book has been exceptional this year. And as much as I HATE what’s happened in the Batman books, I’ve really enjoyed Batman and Robin. Also, John Jackson Miller’s Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic has been a great read for years now.

Lopez: The new Batman and Robin book, and Green Lantern. Old habits die hard.

3. What is your favorite thing about having a job making comic books?

Nicenza: Getting to write everyday and getting paid to do it has always pretty weird to me, but once the "dream come true" part becomes a reality, it's also a job. You have to do your job well to get paid to put food on the table for your family, so although it's really FUN work, it's still work.

Way: The freedom it allows me, in both my professional and personal lives.

Rosemann: I love the idea that the stories I help make not only might entertain a reader, but may also help them through a tough time by showing how heroes like Spider-Man or even Rocket Raccoon deal with bad situations. Marvel heroes don’t do the easy thing, they do the right thing…and that’s something we all can learn from.

Loeb: I love comics. I'm a fanboy -- so getting to make the thing I collect is the coolest!

Quesada: C’mon now, what do you think it is? Yup, I work in comics! Nothing can be cooler than that, seriously, can you think of anything? I spend my entire day, I mean my ENTIRE day, just coming up with ideas for our greatest characters and every once in a while, I find enough time to sit down and draw a few of them. It’s arguably the best job in the world.

Gage: That I get to get up every morning and make comic books, instead of doing something else I might not enjoy as much! I really feel lucky that I love my job so much.

Slott: Getting a chance to work with my childhood heroes-- and by that I mean BOTH my favorite comic book characters AND my favorite comic book creators.

Liss: My day job is writing historical fiction, so comics allow me to engage with an entirely different kind of storytelling. I love working in a world where the rules are so flexible and, in the truest sense of the word, fantastic. I also love the collaborative nature of working in comics. With fiction, you are entirely on your own. In comics, I am working closely with my editor and the artist, and I enjoy the give and take of the creative process.

Larsen: Everything. There's nothing that isn't fun. I get to write and draw all day long. What's not to love?

Raicht: I love finishing a story I've been working on and feeling like it has all come together. Especially when I get to see how the artist has interpreted the world we are working on together. Sometimes at the start of the process, writing the story can feel pretty daunting, so getting to the end and getting pages is in always awesome.

Kibuishi: There are so many great things about it that I can't pick just one! If I did have to pick one, it would have to be getting to meet so many wonderful people. Most of the people who I have met through this project have become very close friends, and they feel like family to me. I feel so lucky to get to be a part of it all.

Narwani: It’s like being a mad scientist let loose in a laboratory! As a fan, of course you have big dreams about the stories you’d like to read and the writers and artists you’d like to see collaborate, and as a comic book editor, you can actually make those dreams happen. Also, every day something cool and awesome and surprising from your talented writers and artists will cross your desk...and you’ll be one of the first people ever to see it. It’s a great feeling.

Dezago: Getting to tell my own stories about the characters that I love so much, that I grew up reading! It's fun to be able to hang out with Spider-Man and see him get out of the trouble that I come up with!

Schreiber: Well, I don't write comics (yet) but I think, like writing STAR WARS books, the big thrill comes from getting to play in an awesome sandbox of huge, iconic, well-known characters and make it your own in some way. Who wouldn't love to do that?

Brevoort: I get a lot of free comic books! And I get to work with a lot of talented people on all of these great, cool characters!

Edwards: I like making comics because I get to support my family doing something that I love. I love telling stories with pictures.

Schoeneweiss: Living a dream! When I got the box containing the SDCC exclusive copies of Talisman #0 we printed up and opened the comic to see my name in it…well, all I can say was it was an exciting moment. I think most creators or comics professionals have probably had that same feeling. Living a dream.

Lopez: Making comic books is the best job in the world. Hard to narrow it down to a favorite thing. For one thing, it's great getting to see the original art, especially back when I was hand-lettering and would get the pencilled art sent over. Also, knowing the stories before everyone else does. Finally, the really cool people you get to work with.

4. What cool comics would you give to a kid who wants to get into comic books now?

Way: I'm really impressed with the Marvel Adventure books, and what Andy Runton does in Owly is amazing.

Rosemann: Ultimate Spider-Man, Bone and Courtney Crumrin are all great places to start. Then, depending on which one of those you like, your friendly neighborhood comic store owner can recommend many more great reads. I always suggest that you not buy what’s “cool” or “hot”, but instead choose what most connects to you. Follow your heart and you’ll never be wrong. ‘Nuff Said!

Loeb: Those books I mentioned that I'm reading -- and of course THE HULK! HE RULES! Thanks Liam, I’m your biggest fan!!

Quesada: Well, that depends on their age. For younger kids I would say anything from our Marvel Adventures line or Marvel Illustrated line, have you read Wizard of Oz, wow is it good! For older kids, I would start them off with either Amazing Spider-Man or any of the core books from the world of Avengers. Books like New Avengers, Captain America, Thor or Iron Man. Aw heck, you know what, just go buy them all, you’re life will never be the same!

Gage: I love Owly. It's really an all-ages book in that people of any age can enjoy it equally. I'd probably also give them some Marvel Adventures comics, and the Marvel Essentials collection of Godzilla…still one of my all-time favorite comics!

Slott: Any of the books from the Marvel Adventures line-- and Amazing Spider-Man #600, of course. Congratulations on a wonderful first year, Liam and Ethan

Liss: I think it depends on the age of the kid. My daughter is eight, and she's already finding lots of comics that interest her -- Fashion Kitty, Babymouse, The Warriors. When she gets a little bit older, there will be plenty more. Kids today are lucky to have such a wide variety of graphic fiction to choose from.

Larsen: Bone, Captain Marvel Adventures and all of my old Marvel books from the'60s. And Savage Dragon. You can't go wrong with that.

Raicht: I think Mouse Guard is a lot of fun, although it's not superhero stuff it is a fun little adventure. I also think Brian Vaughan's digest run on Runaways is a nice entry point for kids. It delivers everything a kid could want all on one team --aliens, mutants, time travelers, robots! Fun stuff. Of things I've worked on, I would gladly give a copy of The Stuff of Legend #1. Although there are some intense moments, I think parents and kids can have a fun time reading that one together.

Kibuishi: Besides Amulet?! Heheh. I would give them Bone, of course. Aside from that, there's Jellaby, Flight Explorer, and the upcoming Missile Mouse graphic novel by Jake Parker. I think young boys are really going to love that one.

Narwani: David Petersen’s “Mouse Guard” is one of the best comics series I’ve ever read. What kid is not going to be excited about The Lord of the Rings with mice?

Dezago: The Marvel Adventures Comics are always a lot of fun—I think. Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four, Marvel Adventures Superheroes, and the new Marvel SuperHero Squad is gonna be great!!

Brevoort: Actually, I just gave my nephews a stack of Marvel Masterworks volumes collecting the earliest Spider-Man and Fantastic Four stories this past weekend. But there are tons of great comics out there for kids. If I had to pick a Marvel book to pass on to a potential young reader right now, I'd probably go with HULK.

Edwards: I've learned through experience with my own children on this one. I'd probably expose a kid to certain iconic Spider-Man stories. I'd also recommend they read Tintin and Bone. I can't really think of a decent modern comic for kids off the top of my head, unfortunately.

Schoeneweiss: Well, Liam has shot down a number of my suggestions (I cried a little when I learned he hated G.I. JOE #21) so I don’t know that my opinion carries much weight. I do think Stuff of Legend is absolutely brilliant. Cool, with lots of action, but also a really scary villain and tragic consequences for the heroes. Its like a Grimms Brothers fairy tale, dark and scary but fun and exciting at the same time. And the art is gorgeous.

Lopez: Hmm, depends on the age. For little kids, Tiny Titans. For bigger kids, Jeph Loeb's and Ed McGuiness's run on Superman/Batman. I'd also have to say Blackest Night and the other Green Lantern books.

This is one of the biggest comic books I ever read. The comic is huge. The main story is really, really long and I liked it because I didn’t have to wait for a bunch of issues to come out to find out the end.

Doctor Octopus is dying because he’s been beaten up so many times by Spider-Man and other super heroes so he has a new suit with extra tentacles because his arms and legs don’t work anymore. His new costume is very creepy. I thought it was interesting that even though he’s the big bad guy in this comic and he built all these robot things in New York that go nuts that he really wasn’t trying to hurt anyone. He thought that he was going to be helping people but it just didn’t work out. That’s different.

I liked that a lot of Spider-Man’s friends show up like the Avengers, Fantastic Four and Daredevil. He’s been around a long time and he is an Avenger so it’s cool when they show up in his comic to help out. The only thing I didn’t really like about the main story is that Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus really didn’t battle each other very much. Spider-Man spends most of the time fighting the robots that took over New York and having his friends help him but the real fight with Doctor Octopus is pretty short. I would like to see what happens now that Doctor Octopus is really angry with all this new power when he comes back.

The guy who draws the main Spider-Man story is one of my favorite artists. I usually like all of the Spider-Man artists but he does a really good job with how he draws Spider-Man in the costume and all the buildings and stuff. I remember that he drew Anti-Venom and made him look even cooler than Venom.

The other stories were pretty good, too. I liked how the one story showed all the different versions of Spider-Man and how he made the doctor crazy from talking about all his adventures. The story about Spider-Man’s car was funny, too. I don’t know if Spider-Man really needs a car and the one he used looked really weird but it was supposed to be sort of a silly story. The different fake covers that they did were a lot of fun. My favorite ones were the one with Spider-Man and Luke Cage’s sons and the one where it’s supposed to be Batman but they can’t show it.

Flight: Volume 6Written and Illustrated by VariousPublished by Villard

I really like reading the Flight books because they have a lot of short stories by different writers and artists all in one big book. Most of the stories are really good and they’re all different from each other. Some of the stories can be funny or scary. Some stories have a lot of action in them and some are just crazy. Not all of the stories in Flight are good. There are some that I think are pretty boring or the art doesn’t look that great but mostly everything is really good. My favorite Flight book is Flight: Explorer. That had the best stories in it, I think. Pretty much all of them were really good.

I got to read the new Flight book, Volume Six, ahead of time which is pretty cool and this is another really good collection. I like getting the advance copies of books before everyone else. After the San Diego Comic Convention I’ll be able to review a book called The Complete Vader which is totally awesome but it isn’t a comic book. And we were able to get a very advance copy called an advance galley of a new Star Wars book called Death Troopers which doesn’t come out till October. But there is going to be a lot of cool Death Troopers and Star Wars and Flight stuff at the Comic Con so people should go check it out. I’m just going to review a few of my favorite stories from this book but there were only maybe one or two bad ones that I didn’t like.

The Excitingly Mundane Life of Kenneth Shuri is tied for my favorite story. It’s about a guy who wants to get a job as a ninja. Actually he already is a ninja but he can’t find a job and he’s really depressed that he has no money and has to take on different jobs that he doesn’t like. The best part of the story is when Ken the ninja has to take on a ton of other ninja warriors for a job. It’s a huge battle in the office building with a lot of action and crazy death scenes. The story looks more like a cartoon than some of the other realistic type of comic book art but that style makes it better. If it was drawn realistic it would probably look way too bloody. It is a funny story though and I liked how the writer ends this one.

Epitaph by Phil Craven was the shortest story in the book. I liked how it seemed like the story was taking place in outer space or something and the characters find a dead body. I thought for sure that it was going to end up being some monster story with the space guys getting chased around the whole time but it was a lot simpler than that. I liked what the guys did with the body near the end of the story, too.

Kidnapped by Rad Sechrist was probably my favorite story. One Samurai warrior’s girlfriend or wife was kidnapped and he’s fighting another warrior to save her. There is a lot of good action in the book and the art is really nice. It takes place in the woods in the winter time so there is a lot of snows and trees around them as they’re fighting. Both of the warriors are really tough and they keep fighting even with arrows shot into them and stuff. My favorite part of the story was the ending because it’s a trick ending. For a minute I thought that one warrior won but it was really just a fake out. Once I figured out what really happened it made the story even better.

The Zs and the Attack of the Early Birds by Richard Pose is more of a story for kids. A little boy is going to go fishing with his dad and has to go to bed early so he isn’t tired. Even the teddy bear tells him to go to sleep but the little boy says he wants to go look for worms instead and goes off on an adventure with the teddy bear following him. There are cool parts with the little boy getting attacked by the early bird for stealing the bird’s worms and then the army of the Zs goes after the boy and the bear. They all want him to sleep and he just wants to get away. I think the early bird was really funny. He just shouts and yells at the boy for everything he does. He’s such an angry bird. It’s a good story that is a lot of fun because of how the boy doesn’t like going to bed and the sleep monsters try and attack him to make him sleep.

There are a lot of other stories in this book that I liked like Fish N Chips and Jellaby and those two were in other Flight books, as well. These were my four favorite, though. I like reading super hero comics like Spider-Man and Deadpool but sometimes it’s fun to read a bunch of different shorter stories like they have in Flight.

Hulk is still one of the most fun comics I read. I think it’s great that they came up with another Hulk who is even tougher and meaner than the green Hulk and I like that there is a mystery on who he really is. I really thought that Red Hulk was going to be Samson but now I’m not even sure who he could be. Maybe the General who really hates the Hulk but he doesn’t have a mustache. Hulk with a mustache would be hilarious.

I like that Spider-Man was in this. Back when all the different Marvel characters were showing up in the book like Iron Man and Thor I asked Jeph Loeb if Rulk would ever fight Spider-Man and it was cool to see it finally happen. It’s funny that even Rulk is annoyed by Spider-Man’s dumb jokes. Spider-Man looks so small compared to Rulk but I’m glad that he didn’t get beaten real easy like all the other people who tried to fight him. This issue was good because it showed a lot of clues on who Rulk might be and I like how the reporter is trying to figure out the truth by investigating everything. It was strange that She-Hulk was so scared of Rulk but that’s probably because he’s so tough that even she is worried about what would happen if he came after her.

I thought that the big fight between Green and Red Hulk was really good. They’ve been battling in a couple of different comics and this really seemed like it could be the last battle and I liked the way Red Hulk came up with the win. It was an interesting way to do it instead of just beating on each other until one got knocked out.

I didn’t like the other stories in the comic as much as I did the Spider-Man big book. I don’t really like She-Hulk but I did like the way the Hulk looked in the last part of the comic with the Gray Hulk story. That was pretty good and I want to find the other issues of that story. I liked the short story that had Red Hulk and Green Hulk fighting too and the huge guy who shows up to stop them but can’t tell which one is the good Hulk because he is color blind. I think it was a cool idea that they showed all of the Hulk comic covers ever made, too. I wish they did that with Spider-Man.

Green Lantern has been so awesome since I’ve been reading it. I like how there are a lot of different types of Lantern teams and each one has different moods. The Black Lanterns were talked about for a long time and this is the big comic book where all the Black Lantern zombies start coming out and try to take over everything. Now that all of the other colored Lantern teams have come out it’s time for the really evil team to join in and start trouble.

There were a lot of really great moments in this comic. The Black Hand is really creepy. He’s digging up the grave of Batman and using his skull to make Black Lantern rings. I don’t know why Batman’s skull makes the rings but it’s kind of cool that it’s happening because it probably means Batman will come back really angry and kick the Black Lantern’s butt for doing that.

I liked how all these things were talking place at different times. Green Lantern Hal is showing Flash all of the super heroes who died while he was gone and he also shows them that the Justice League is keeping all the bodies of the bad guys at their base so no bad guys can steal the bodies and do experiments. When those bad guys turn into zombies because of the Black Hand the Justice League base is going to be in big trouble. And the other Green Lanterns are at their base in space when Black Hand brings back to life all of the Green Lanterns that ever died. I liked how every time the Black Hand said ‘rise’ it meant that the dead people were going to come back as zombie Lanterns. The art on the pages where all the zombies are coming alive with their rings was really well done. It was scary and cool at the same time. The blue Guardians fighting it out was really strange, as well. They’ve been doing everything wrong and not helping the Green Lanterns for a long time and now they’re all getting in trouble and they’re probably going to get killed because of it.

One of the best parts of the book was with Hawkman and Hawkgirl when they get attacked by friends of theirs who were turned into Black Lanterns. Hawkman is a really tough character and the battle between him and the Black Lanterns showed how tough the zombie guys really are because if they can take out Hawkman they are going to be really hard to beat. It was a really bloody battle and I thought it was cool that Hawkman and Hawkgirl tried to team up and fight the Black Lanterns together. I was really surprised by how the fight ended and what was said on the last page.

Green Lantern has turned into an even better book since the Black Lantern story started. I can’t wait to see how the Justice League battles their old friends and stops the Black Lanterns. I bet they’re going to have to team up with some of the evil Lanterns like the Red and Yellow to be able to stop them all.

Ultimatum #5Written by Jeph Loeb and illustrated by David FinchPublished by Marvel Comics

This comic is crazy. So much is happening from the beginning to the end. I like the idea that there is a different universe for all these characters so that things can happen and people can change sides or get killed in battles because it isn’t the real Marvel or DC so you don’t know if the people are going to come back or not. Some of the issues have been really good but I thought the last issue was strange with the way Nick Fury was getting Dr. Doom to help out and all that stuff.

This is the last issue of the story so everything has to happen fast and there isn’t a lot of time that’s wasted. I don’t know how to talk about a lot of the comic without ruining all of the surprises because there’s really like a major surprise happening on every page. The fight between Wolverine and Magneto was awesome. I thought it was really interesting how Magneto used Cyclops and Iron Man’s powers to his advantage. He knew he wouldn’t be able to beat Wolverine on his own because he’s so tough and can’t really get hurt so he takes over those other good guys to try and help himself.

I was really surprised at a lot of the stuff that happened. I know that big things happened in the Ultimate Spider-Man book but they never found his body so he’s probably alive. And he still has a comic coming out so I bet he’s safe. But there are a lot of really popular characters who didn’t survive in this series and this issue really gets nuts with major characters getting killed that I wouldn’t expect. The wildest part was probably the part that takes place in Dr Doom’s castle with the Thing.

The guy who draws the book puts a lot of extra detail in his work. The parts with Dr. Doom’s castle are really good. He draws Dr. Doom really good and makes his armor look very realistic and the castle parts look like they’re from a real picture or something. I like how he draws the Thing, too. He looks more like a scary tough monster that can take on the Hulk instead of a cuddly guy.

My favorite section of the book was when Nick Fury told Magneto the truth about everything that happened. Magneto thought he knew everything about the world and that his plan was the best, but Fury had all the information that nobody knew about. He pretty much beat down Magneto without even really fighting him. I liked that in a book with all of these massive fights Magneto loses just from the words that Fury tells him

About this Blog

New Comic Reviews Posted Every Week

The 'Kid''s secret identity is Liam, my son. He really wanted to do this and eventually his younger brother Ethan wanted to join it. Basically they talk and I write.

They pick the books they want to read from the store each week and we read the books together, discuss them afterwards and then he does his reviews. The choice of what books to review will be theirs, not mine.

I'm letting a 9 and 6 year old boy go loose in the comic store every week in the hopes they/we can provide readers with a different perspective on some of today's comic books. Maybe you don't have kids but think it's interesting to find out what a grade-schooler thinks about them? Maybe you do have kids and this column can provide you with some insight on what to seek out on your next trip to the comic shop?

They love feedback so feel free to leave a comment on the blog or email us about what you think.

Thanks for reading.

About Me

Liam is a 9 year old son to a geek father. Liam and his younger brother Ethan have been subjected to geek culture since shortly after they were born. He's been brought up with a healthy dose of Star Wars, Spider-Man and The Simpsons among other things.
Liam now feels like it's time to share his opinions on comic books with the world.
Liam loves animals (especially kittens), drawing, GI Joe and Star Wars.
Ethan loves animals, playing with his action figures and lego Batman.
They're both in their first season of little league
And they both love getting feedback on the site.